Printer-friendly

Contact Author

March 10, 2006

Team Health Reports

Houston Astros

by Will Carroll

Click here for the Astros' 2006 depth chart.

C Brad Ausmus: Ausmus is red mostly on the basis of his age and his position. The system looks at his numbers, and figures he’s hurt. It’s easy to take shots at Ausmus, but he’s one of few durable catchers out there. The survivor effect for catchers after 30 is pretty interesting.

1B Lance Berkman: Berkman is back from surgery on his knee, and will likely be at first base most of the time, reducing the stress on it. The more games at first, the better. Berkman’s similar to pitcher David Wells: in better shape than you’d think from just looking at him.

2B Craig Biggio: This is proof that the system occasionally gets freaked out by the outliers. There are so few players of this age doing what Biggio does that it has nothing to compare him to, skewing things. Call him green for lack of a better explanation.

3B Morgan Ensberg: The third baseman finished up his breakout season playing through a painful hand injury; not even playing in the World Series could cure him. Ensberg is the type that always seems to have one thing wrong at any given time, but "just" that one, while never being completely healthy.

SS Adam Everett: His off-field struggles make the season he had last year pretty amazing. We often forget that outside the stadiums and apart from the money, these guys are just guys.